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Tag Archives: Chuck Baldwin

Perennial GOP letter writer and school board candidate Barbara Rush recently treated Montanans to an inside look into the thinking of Republicans who want to run Montana schools.

Rush rails against the high school DECA (a club for emerging leaders) for doing community service instead of teaching kids to be more capitalist. Then she tells us that the word “community” makes her sick and that she really doesn’t think that she is part of the Helena community at all:

Here’s where it gets really CREEPY,did you know we live in a COMMUNITY? Yes, it’s a STRONGCOMMUNITY, AS A COMMUNITY WE…, WE HAVE COMMUNITY AWARENESS, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, WE HAVE A STRONG COMMUNITY, THE COMMUNITY IS AWARE, OUR COMMUNITY…., we all must be involved in COMMUNITY SERVICE, THE COMMUNITY… If the trustees said COMMUNITY one more time I was ready to throw up. I don’t know about you, but I live in a city…I am not part of any COMMUNITY and I have no intention of having anyone manipulate me or coerce me to belong to any COMMUNITY…Do the socialist pretenders think they can manipulate American’s into giving up their strong individual identity to become a part of some NAMBY PAMBY COMMUNITY ? DO THEY THINK THEY CAN FORCE OR MANIPULATE THE “MASSES” INTO ASSOCIATIONS?

Next, we are treated to Rush’s conspiracy theories on a hodge podge of issues. The fall of Europe, is one. Rush falsely claims that the Governor’s health clinics would kill her husband by not allowing him to go to his doctor (the clinics are optional). She rants about not wanting to support kids who are gay, and concludes with conspiracy theories about allergies, the Americans with Disabilities Act, dress codes, nudists, and school funding losses.

She finally ends it by asking, “ANYBODY READY TO TAKE AMERICA BACK YET??” in all caps. Isn’t that the slogan of the Baldwinites up yonder by the Idaho boarder on the hate watch groups’ lists?Tweet

Chuck Baldwin dropped out of the Governor’s race. But the end-times conspiracy theorist pastor isn’t done meddling in Montana politics. Baldwin is a TEA Partier who recently moved from Florida to Montana because he thinks it is “The Alamo of the twenty-first century.”

Now, Baldwin and his fellow TEA Partiers are after legislative seats–including the one currently occupied by Republican Party leader Bruce Tutvedt. Tutvedt went around shrieking about government handouts while raking in $640,000 in farm subsidies, so it’s not surprising that the TEA Party is going after him.

Baldwin calls Tutvedt a “neanderthal” among other things. As the Flathead Memo reports, Baldwin’s been pumping up Tutvedt’s opponent. Pyramid scheme marketer Rollan Roberts II, a member Baldwin’s congregation, is now primarying Tutvedt.

Perhaps one reason Baldwin is getting so excited about Rollan Roberts II’s race is that, well, he has to be. After all, Rollan Roberts II stepped aside and filed in a different district so that Baldwin’s own son, Tim Baldwin, could run in the open Whitefish house seat vacated by Derek Skees.

The Baldwinites had previously made a big charge at the Flathead Valley Community College board with a slate of TEA Party candidates–including Baldwin Junior–and got their asses handed to them.Tweet

Readers to this blog have no doubt come across the colorful language of commenter Larry Kralj. Kralj always seems to come up with funny nicknames for the GOP-ers. Like people’s names in American Sign Language (ASL), the names usually include some inherent characteristic of the person’s being, hobbies, or job.

The level of stupid among TEA Party Republican candidates running for office this cycle is certainly astounding. We have seen this before in legislative races, but for some reason the GOP primary for the Governor has attracted some of the absolute stupidest human beings that have ever lived. Every now and then, one of them miraculously gets an article in the local newspaper.

This is the case of Bob Fanning and Chuck Baldwin, who recently took legal action that will appeal to a certain key GOP voting bloc: bigoted conspiracy theory morons, or, as they are called in TEA Party circles “states’ rights advocates.”

The TEA Party Republicans are suing to change the way census figures are used to draw congressional districts. They say by following the Constitutional mandate to include undocumented workers in the count, a black person who some call President Barack Obama is “rigging the census.” It’s a “monstrous” conspiracy to dilute the political power of citizens who live in districts with lots of white people, such as Montana.

Says Baldwin:

“This rigging will keep Montana from having a second congressional representative,” Baldwin said. “If the illegals in California, Texas and Florida are not included, then Montana will receive two congressional seats and four electoral votes. Under Obama’s rigging plan, Montana will continue to have only one congressional seat and three electoral votes.”

If Fanning and Baldwin are successful, undocumented workers won’t be counted when Congressional delegations are counted, meaning they would be paying taxes without being represented within their state.

Perhaps Fanning and Baldwin were home-schooled, otherwise they would surely be aware of a certain fight over this involving events known as the Boston TEA Party and the Revolutionary War.Tweet

There are still a few hours to go until we reach the 2012 horizon, so there is still plenty of time for some GOP candidate antics. They would have to register high on the wackjob scale, however, to top this.

Suffice it to say, it’s been a pretty embarrassing year for Neil Livingstone and Ryan Zinke. However, they have managed to squeeze this last humiliation in before the New Year.

This is certainly the weirdest holiday card I’ve ever seen from…well…anyone. What says “Merry Christmas” less than Livingstone and Zinke in a sleigh with Zinke brandishing a scope sighted M-16, a dead wolf on the front of the sleigh, drone wings, hidden pistols, and an unintentional homage to Obama–a crossed out face of Osama bin Laden. And don’t forget the bag of extractive-industry-only jobs and the PhD certificates.

This is one oddball message to wrap up into a Christmas card and send to the electorate. Presumably, the “strategy” behind this is to show that these guys ARE TOO! nutty enough to compete with Drew Turiano and Chuck Baldwin. A larger version can be seen here.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest Intelligence Report focuses on the recent uptick in extremist activity in Kalispell and the Flathead. In the article “A Gathering of Eagles: Extremists Look to Montana” the SPLC details the activities of the various far-right movements and their leaders, including Chuck Baldwin, who is running for Lt. Governor here. The good quick summary of the Baldwin’s son Timothy Baldwin takes issue with the report on the TEA Party blog PolyMontana, calling it’s reporting a “sinister” conspiracy. Apparently, this blog is a “group” that is somehow involved.

Look here where this SPLC-like group in Montana describes my formation of the institution as, “Right Wing Re-education Camp Opening in the Flathead.” Like SPLC, that “Montana group” did not attempt to contact me about my education program. Their journalism appears as un-credible as SPLC’s, if that’s possible.

He also says he is not a racist and that:

“Some of my closest friends are of African descent. The same can be said of Chuck Baldwin.”

Interesting how the article or slander or crap or hearsay or what ever was written by a woman…..is that why it was released on game day with no facts or proof?”

Throw Away

More evidence has come to light this week that the GOP has thrown away a major statewide office. It seems they couldn’t even find a candidate for attorney general that knows the disclosure guidelines for campaign materials. Pasted below are screenshots from a recent web ad Republican state legislator Jim Shockely (R-Bitterrooter) ran in the Billings Gazette. The ads, which are missing the legally required party affiliation, can be viewed in their original context on the Gazette website here and here.

He also lacks visible party affiliation on his campaign website (screenshot), so the omission does not appear accidental. Nor does the campaign appear to be active. According to the campaign calendar he just left for Alabama for two weeks.

Rick Hill is still leading strongly in the nine-way GOP race for governor, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted this past week.

Hill polls highest among those who describe themselves as liberal or somewhat liberal, but that goes down to 31% with very conservative voters. Hill’s lead is unsurprising, given that no other candidate has any name ID– nor have they shown an interest in going after the front runner, nor even in trying to take some risks and attract attention to themselves. The percentage of voters who answered they’d like “someone else or undecided” is similar to or greater than the number supporting Hill among the full range of GOP voters polled. This is further indication that most people haven’t heard of any of these guys yet and that being a state legislator means jack in terms of name recognition.

The one wild card was Neil Livingstone, who is now known mainly as having been Muammar Qaddafi’s lobbyist. For a few million bucks worth of TV ads, Livingstone could have make up the deficit against Hill and probably surpassed him. But word on the street is that he is closing up shop and getting out of the race, his campaign having all but derailed. Perhaps he doesn’t have the cash, or else why would he have tried prostituting himself to Qaddafi for the big payday, in the middle of a governor’s race?

The rest of the field is a bunch of yahoos. Stapleton has raised a decent clip of cash but will not have nearly enough to close the gap. Essmann has spent all his money on munchies for campaign events; Ken Miller has a comb-over. The full results of the poll can be seen here.

Looking beyond the primary to the general contest, the Washington, D.C. based Politico has, for the third month in a row, declared Attorney General Steve Bullock as the “winner” of the moment– giving him that distinction every month since he joined the race. The the political news source has ranked the Montana gubernatorial contest as one of the top races in the nation.Tweet

Rob Kailey at Left in the West this week highlights just what kind of wackos the fringe elements in Montana have attracted. It’s a must read, especially given the fact that Chuck Baldwin understands very well he his chances of becoming Governor. So is the latest piece by James Conner at the Flathead Memo. It’s a takedown of Baldwin’s introductory statements to Montana voters that the leaders of the old confederacy weren’t racists, and were people who Baldwin holds “in the highest regard.” In yesterday’s Daily Inter Lake,

Baldwin makes clear the Fanning-Baldwin political strategy in a field of nine gubernatorial candidates.

“The pie is going to be sliced mighty thin, and in Montana, there is no run-off in the primaries. That means, whoever gets the most votes — no matter what the percentage — wins,” Baldwin wrote. “It is very conceivable, therefore, that the winner will receive far less than 30 percent of the votes. Do you see the opportunity Bob and I have in this election?”

As a former presidential candidate, he poses a real threat to the candidates running for Governor, most of which have never run for statewide office before. Even those who have, such as Hill, or have some national media experience, such as Livingstone, face losing home turf to Baldwin, who is also from the Flathead.

This Is Embarrassing

Apparently flying a giant flag above a furniture store isn’t good enough for veterans to support Ken Miller.

There’s a whole lot of crazy tumbling out of the GOP Kandidate Klown Kar this week. The latest? TEA Party blogger Ed Berry writes on the Oathkeeper’s website that the Reverend Dr. Chuck Baldwin, the 2008 Constitution Party’s presidential candidate, has jumped onto the ticket of far-right candidate Robert Fanning to be the Republican Party nominees for the Governor’s office.

Now, governor candidate Robert Fanning, an expert in economics, finance, wildlife and resources, has been joined by 2008 presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin as his lt. governor running mate. Fanning made this historic announcement last night at a Gubernatorial Forum in Billings.

Speculation that Baldwin would run for Montana statewide office began earlier this year, when in a speech to a packed room at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispell last January Baldwin warned the audience that “There’s a fight coming.” In his speech, which some thought seemed to call for a civil war, Baldwin described “waking in the middle of the night and imagining himself as governor of Montana.”

he all but declared his candidacy, describing the prospect as, “so thrilling I just get goose bumps.”

To win a Republican nomination, a candidate has to move right, recant absolutely any past position that violates the current conservative dogma and never, ever dare to speak the truth that the Democratic Schweitzer administration has managed the state budget better than any time in state history.

Baldwin said he was drawn to the Flathead and the Rocky Mountain West by what he described as a “freedom-minded spirit in that area that is superior to most places in the country.” He spoke in May at the “Liberty Convention” in Missoula, and at a conservative gathering in Hamilton last year.

The Liberty Convention was the event that included headliners several white-supremacist speakers including Red Beckman, Baldwin and a small handful of others. Red Beckman is guy whose name you have probably heard before. In addition to refusing to pay his taxes, Beckman believes that Jewish people are the literal children of Satan, and people of color are sub-human “mud people.”

In a recent Flathead Beacon article, it was reported that Baldwin has written a column in which he expressed this view:

“The South was right in the War Between the States, and I am not a racist,” he wrote. “Neither do I believe that the leaders of the Old Confederacy were racists.”

Fanning and Baldwin must know at some level that not all of their ideas are fit for prime time. Or maybe it’s just that there are some conspiracies that are too sensitive to discuss publicly. That’s because on their website, their position on Agenda 21, the insidious UN Black Helicopter agenda in favor of food for hungry people and bike paths, is for certain eyes only, and is password protected. Here’s a screenshot:

They should keep all of their ideas far from public eyes, because the more Montanans learn about this pair, the less there is to like.Tweet

It is every astroturf special interest front group’s worst nightmare: the moment when, despite their best efforts to carefully orchestrate each facet of the campaign, reality comes crashing down–sending the movement careening into crackpot-ville for good.

This is that moment for Americans for Prosperity, the group funded by the Koch brothers to trick people into thinking that the TEA Party was a grassroots uprising. Rumors are circulating that the front group has selected a new leader for the Montana chapter. Henry Kriegel is to be the group’s new figurehead, replacing Scott Sales, if the rumors are true. Right now, Kriegel is the organization’s number two, but word is he’s getting called up for prime time.

Montana Cowgirl readers know Henry Kriegel well. He’s a right-wing nutjob, former New Yorker, radio-host, and the leader of the Bozeman TEA Party.

A few years ago, Henry Kriegel was busted by the IRS for failing to pay a fortune in income taxes. Somehow, he got a bankruptcy court to let him off the hook on a large portion of it. Kriegel told reporters that he didn’t believe his tax history should keep him from speaking out about tax reform (in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on June 15, 2009). It may not keep him from speaking out, but it keeps him from doing so with any credibility. Having Kriegel lead the charge against taxes is like tapping Bernie Madoff to campaign against tighter securities regulation.

That’s not the only skeleton in Kriegel’s closet. It turns out that Kriegel has been a high-ranking member of the Church Universal and Triumphant, also known as CUT. In fact, Kriegel was actually featured a while back in an LA Times article about people who wander off and get caught up in cult-like religious movements. An “out-of-stater” (to use a Republican phrase), Kriegel is from New York and left the east coast on a soul search, came to Montana, and joined up with CUT. During the 1990s, Kriegel spoke out against the deprogramming efforts of anti-cult activists, saying he was the “victim of an attempted deprogramming” by people opposed to his CUT membership. (Bozeman Daily Chronicle, March 15, 1992.)

But even better, CUT was the bunch who believed that the world was going to end of a nuclear holocaust at a particular hour and minute on April 23, 1990. They built a massive underground bomb shelter up near Gardiner, MT and stocked it to the rafters with illegally purchased semi-automatic weapons, in preparation for The End (as reported by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Feb. 27, 1995; Bozeman Daily Chronicle, March 14, 1995).

But I guess none of this was enough wacky for Kriegel, so he went looking for another fringe sect. He definitely found it in Americans for Prosperity.Tweet